Burning Inside (Century Media)
by Scott Hefflon
Kentucky delivers a band that mixes hardcore and metal, in that order, into 14 songs of devastating force. Beginning in ’90 as Human Remains, becoming Crawlspace in ’92, and finally maturing into My Own Victim in ’94/’95. The HC elitists will call it metal, but the crossover kids will have no trouble accepting this hybrid as metal-influenced hardcore. Shout-along choruses and slamming, stomping beats would make this an amazing live show, if the crowd knew the words. (My copy of the CD is a cardboard promo thing, but hopefully the real thing has lyrics ’cause they sound fuckin’ rippin’!) Spilling over with anger and destroy-and-rebuild lyrics, this is a true force for upheaval and unity simultaneously. This is My Own Victim’s first full-length, and it has a strength rarely seen in domestic debuts. This is a band to catch live and watch build into something big.